Back in April of 2003 I went to the movies on a Friday night. I was a senior in high school and usually spent most of my weekends working instead of having fun like my smarter friends and peers. On this night I wasn’t working and didn’t have anything else going on, so I went to a movie. I want to say both of my younger brothers went with me, but it could’ve been just one. The plan was to watch some movie with a poster that had caught my eye, a giant bloody handprint, and that was all I knew about it. The movie proved to be tremendously entertaining on that April evening, as well as every subsequent evening I would watch that movie over the next 23 years. This movie starred Dr. Cox from Scrubs (John C. McGinley) and the goth girl from The Faculty (Clea Duvall), and other people I didn’t know at the time. It was a great time at the movies. It was also a fairly run of the mill trip to the movies. Nothing crazy or super noteworthy happened and, yet, I still think back fondly on that particular Friday night at the theater. That movie is James Mangold’s Identity.
Inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Identity is a horror-mystery set at a motel in the middle of nowhere during a hellacious rainstorm. The framing device for the story is the impending execution of serial killer Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and the last-minute hearing for his case. The bulk of the film’s action takes place over at the motel run by Larry Washington (John Fawkes). There’s the limo driver and movie star (John Cusack and Rebecca DeMornay), an officer and prisoner (Ray Liotta and Jake Busey), a newlywed couple (Duvall and William Lee Scott), a prostitute (Amanda Peet), and a family in crisis (McGinley, Leila Kenzie, and Bret Loehr). These apparent strangers crash and clang into and off each other, creating friction from almost every pairing we see onscreen. The heightened situation steadily gets worse for all involved as odd connections between the disparate group start appearing. Complicating things even more is the killer lurking among them.
Already prickly from having to spend a night in a rundown motel (is there any other kind?), the characters grow pricklier as they begrudgingly work together even as their suspicions rise. Nearly all of Liotta’s scenes encapsulate this push-pull. As is typical of his best performances Liotta’s screentime crackles with anything-can-happen energy, whether he’s flirting (unsuccessfully) with Peet’s character Paris, or jostling with Cusack’s Dakota for alpha status. In my eyes he’s the best part of the movie, but that’s not to shortchange the rest of the cast. Peet, Cusack, Hawkes, and McGinley all get plenty of moments of their own. Most amusing is McGinley, playing a nebbish man who is desperately seeking help for his wife who was waylaid by a car at the start of the movie and is unconscious for most of the movie and McGinley’s George York futilely tries to get her medical attention.
As a popcorn thriller, Identity plays like gangbusters. The script by Michael Cooney is so playful and tidy. There isn’t a wasted line or beat to be found. Mangold matches the script’s efficiency with fleet pacing and direction. The slasher side of the story plays out in sharp, tense bursts of violence, while the whodunit plays out in similarly effective fashion. The kill scenes, soundtracked by the unrelenting rain, work just as well today as they did in 2003. Mangold is a pro’s-pro behind the camera. His films tend to have a high floor and a craftsman’s penchant for sturdy storytelling. Identity stands out among his filmography as his only horror film and in comparison to the more prestigious path he would go on after this (starting with his next film Walk the Line). Having just rewatched Identity, I’m inclined to say it’s Mangold’s most purely entertaining film.
Arrow has given Identity a glorious 4K release and the movie jumps off the screen just as much now as it ever has. Arrow includes the theatrical version as well as the extended cut (running just a minute or two longer) and legacy features from earlier releases (including commentary tracks by Mangold and Cooney). The two new features are interviews with actor Pruitt Taylor Vince and producer Cathy Konrad, which are brief but interesting. This is a case where the movie itself is the star of the release and it’s worth picking up Arrow’s set just to have a high quality version of the movie on hand.
It’s important to note Identity ripped back in 2003 and it still rips just as much in 2026. I got such a kick out of Identity that I ended up seeing it five times in theaters. Each time I was with different friends and their reactions made the repeat visits worth it. Watching it today with my wife (who had forgotten most of the important details) and I got to have that 2003 experience all over again.
